This invention relates to portable bed assemblies for use on motor vehicles having a rear deck or bed and, more particularly, to a free standing portable bed assembly which may be mounted on the motor vehicle or taken off thereof by a single individual.
Numerous devices have been made to aid loading and unloading materials from the rear of motor vehicles. Several of these devices have utilized sliding platforms which may be moved partially into and out of the bed of a truck or the back of a station wagon. A few of these slidable platforms have utilized one set of foldable legs positioned at the rear of the movable platform to allow the platform to stand on that free end while being supported on its inner end by the truck bed or station wagon floor. Patents which disclose these types of moveable platforms include U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,788,137; 2,852,303; 3,028,025; 3,687,314; and 3,768,673.
While these patents disclose a slidable bed which may be moved partially out of the back of a truck or station wagon, none of these portable beds are free standing in their own right. If these portable beds are to be mounted on the vehicle by an individual, they must be picked up one end at a time, first the inner end put on the truck deck, and then the outer end picked up so as to slide the bed onto the vehicle, or else several individuals must pick up the portable bed. This type of structure makes it very difficult for a single individual to install a portable bed in such a motor vehicle, especially if any large or heavy objects are mounted on the portable bed. A need has developed for a free standing portable bed which may be mounted or dismounted from the motor vehicle by one individual without lifting either end of the portable bed more than an easily adjustable amount.
It is therefore an object of the present invention, generally stated, to provide a new and improved portable bed assembly which is slidably mountable on the bed or deck of the rear of a motor vehicle, and which may be mounted or dismounted by an individual without substantial lifting of either end of the portable bed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable bed assembly having thereon means for selectably releasably mounting foreign objects, machinery, or the like with more than one of such portable beds being interchangeably mountable on the motor vehicle bed or deck to easily switch the vehicle from use as a work vehicle to that of a recreational vehicle and vice versa.